Escaped the Night (12 page)

I was going to have a million question
s for Jayce when I saw him
.
I thought
about it and realized
he
probably already knew my
questions; it
was just a matter o
f
him
passing along the answers
.

‘
Good morning
,
beautiful
.
’
His voice entered
my head.

I loved the sound of his voice. It was the perfect pitch of deepness. It sounded how every man
’
s voice should
—
p
rofound and strong
,
yet somehow sweet and sensitive.

It wasn’t fair
,
knowing he
knew
everything
I
thought. Why couldn’t I do the same with
him?
Was he able to see me too?
I lifted the blankets and looked down.
Perfect!
I rolled my eyes.
I
’d
worn
miss-matched pajamas
to bed
.

“Argh
,
” I said alou
d
,
pulling
the blanket up over my head. I
fe
lt ugly and embarrassed
.
To top it off,
Jayce was
listening and
possibly
s
eeing
everything
I was doing. This could be
come a really bad thing and w
e needed
to set some boundaries. Quickly!

‘
Did anyone ever tell you, you look
really cute when you
’re
frustrated?’
’

‘
Geez, Jayce.
’
I blushed.
‘Can you see me?’

‘
Only if I focus all of my attention, I get glimpses, you know, small scenes. I can’t watch every move you mak
e, so there’s no need to worry.’

This had already spun into a full time
relationship between us.
W
e were linked together in so many
way
s
and
this
felt
more intimate than I was
used t
o. I
’d
never really ha
d any serious boyfriends
.
My
longe
st so-called relationshi
p lasted
a
total of three months. This was
already
more serious then that had ever been.
I took a moment
to think
about everything. One m
ajor question popped in
to
my head and
I couldn’t ignore it.
Was I ready for all this?

‘
A
ll we can do
is take this
one day at a time
. I promise
I’ll behave myself and
give
space whenever
need
ed
. Right now though
, it’s time
for you
to get
ready. I can’t wait to
see you
.’
’

‘
Okay, okay I’m up
!
’
Truth was,
I
couldn’t wait to see him either.

I got up
with
a big stretch
, went
over to
my
dresser
, grabbed my hairbrush and
ran
it
t
hrough the tangled mess. I left my room
and found
U
ncle Dane and Auntie Steph
already up and at ‘em.

They sat together
a
t
the
breakfast
bar
,
sipping on
morning coffee
while
eating fruit
and
toast. They smiled happily back and forth
as
they exchanged conversation and
enjoyed
their
breakfast
.

I admired the
cute couple
before announcing myself
. I was amused how
they
shared
the sam
e
contemporary style, yet managing
to keep it
modern. They had
the
s
ame shade of brown hair; h
is
short and hers shoulder length.
Both
had bright blue e
yes. He was a few inches taller
,
but over all
,
they were very similar. I knew
the
saying
,
‘
the longer you
are with someone
,
the more you
will
start to resemble
them
.
’
This
was completely true in their
case.
I sneezed
,
announcing my location
.

Uncle Dane looked up at me and raised his cup of coffee while Auntie Steph said good morning.

“Good mornin
g
,
” I walked over
and gave
them each a kiss on the cheek. Then
I
headed directly
over
to the coffee
pot and filled
up the cup
waiting
for me
on the counter. I fixed
a piece of toast and grabbed some fruit out of the refrigerator.

Breaking off a piece of her toast,
Auntie Steph
said, “I’m
meeting a friend for a
fun-filled day of shopping. Then
,
we may
head
out for
lunch and possibly
even
take in a movie
,
should
t
ime permit
.
Shanntal, you’
re more than w
elcome
to come along.”

“Oh sure,”
Uncle Dane
said, “
just
leave me home alone to watch the
game
!”

Auntie Steph and I la
ughed since we both knew that was
exactly what he wanted to do.

I blew on my coffee before saying, “Thanks for the offer, but
I’m going to meet up with Jayce
. He
said he’d
pick
me up in a little while.
”

“
Hanging with
Jayce
again…” Uncle Dane said.

I waited fo
r him to object, but he was cut
off.

“
Ohhhh
,
do
tell, do tell
!
” Auntie Steph absolutely beamed
as she questioned me.
Placing
her elb
ows up on the counter and leaning
forward with her head in
her hands
, she waited for me to spill the details
.

“
Jayce, you know, the
guy
I met at the mall. I hung out with him and
his
friends
yesterday. He’s pretty cool.” I tried
leaving
it at that.

“Is he cute?”
Her
head
tilting
side
ways
as she prodded
.

I tried to act casual, but felt my face grow warm. I nodded, then took a bite of my toast.

“You
like him! You like him,
a lot!” she squealed
,
th
rowing her arms in the air
.

‘
I like your aunt
!
’
J
ayce intruded.
‘
Looking fo
rward to meeting her, she’ll be
easy
to
win
over
. Your uncle on the ot
her hand
…
might
be
a bit
more challenging
.’

I looked ove
r,
my uncle
sat with a
concerned expression
. C
learly
not sharing
the same enthusiasm as his wife.

“Jayce
is really nice, polite,
he’s
a true gentleman
.
”
I
hoped this would
help
p
ut his mind to rest.

“Well, keep your cell with you at all times. Remember,” he said, the worry lines noticeable on his forehead, “we’re only a phone call away.”

I got up
and gave
him a big hug.
“Well,
I
guess I should start getting ready now. I told Jayce he could pick me up at eleven.” I never actually picked a time for Jayce to pick me up
and
wasn’t su
re if he
’d caught the
clue
I
just
dropped for him.
I
couldn’t tell if
we were still connected. I’d
have to
verify
with him when I had a little more privacy.

I loaded
my dishes into
t
he dishwasher and
headed
down the hallway toward the
bathroom
.
I was
in
desperate need of a shower.
I
stopped by the hall closet and
grabbed
a towel.
I closed the
bathroom
door and was about to strip down
when I clued in to the fact
that
I wasn’t sure if I
was alone.
A shower
with Jayce
in my head
, oh my…
I t
hought about him
as hard as I could.

‘
Well
now
, hello there,
’
he answered
playfully.

I was
about to vent
, but
he cut me off.

‘
I know.
Trust me.
You don’t even need to ask. I’ll try t
o think of lots of other things
. Even though, I
’d
re
ally rather be thinking about
you.
’

‘
If y
ou prefer
me to
show up sm
elly,
then
continue to think about me
,
Jayce. I dare you.
’
I wasn’t about to
shower
with him in my head.

‘
All right! You win. You
’ve
got
my word, okay? No thoughts,
’
h
e promised.
‘
How about you s
end me over a thought when you’re done
. O
r better yet,
I’ll
just
see you at eleven.
’

I was glad he
picked up on my
unsubtle hint. He was tricky and I
had to lay down some
ground rules with him
. I
needed to
make sure I stu
ck to my guns.
‘
Thank you…
now out.
’

It surprised me
;
I
actually felt him leave. A
t least
,
I’
d learned
something.
I
now
knew what it fe
lt like when he was connected and
when he wasn’t.
I
needed to remember this
feeling for future reference.

I
attempted a quick
shower
, just in case this
whole ordeal was too tempting f
or him. He was a guy after all
and this was clearly asking a lot.
I toweled off
and put
fresh clothes on. I br
ushed my hair and teeth and
put on a little bit of make-up.

‘
I’m ready for you,
’
I thought over to Jayce
, hoping he’d hear me
.

‘
Give me twenty
minutes and
I’ll be there.
’

‘
Jayce, were you connected this
entire
time?’

‘
No, I swear. It’s almost eleven and I knew you
’d
be ready.’

‘Really?’

‘
Yup,
I promise. S
ee you
soon
.’

Not even fifteen
minutes
passed by and
there was a knock at the front door. Uncle Dane opened
it
.

“Hello,
I’m Jayce Fallon.
I’m here to pick up Shanntal. I apologize for not
introducing myself
yesterday. I was running short on time.” I
watched
Jayce shoot his hand out,
awaiting a
return
shake from my uncle.

“No worries
,
Jayce. It’s n
ice to meet you. I’m Danier, but you can call me Dane.” He reached his hand
out
t
o meet Jayce’s.

Aunt
ie
Steph had already left to go meet up with her gi
rlfriend for the day. A
t least there wasn’t goi
ng to be any embarrassing drama
. A handshake
,
I could handle.
The squealing
, well that
would’ve been something else
entirely
.

I walked
towards the do
or and
grabbed my jacket and purse
as I
slipped my feet
easily into
my
running shoes.
I leaned over and kissed Uncle Dane
on his
cheek. “See you later
.”

“See you,
” Uncle Dane replied. He stood in the doorway watching as
Jayce and I made our way to the
shiny black car.

Jayce
opened the
door for me, t
hen ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in.
The butterflies in my stomach
were almost unbearable. I was
happy to see
him, but extremely nervous
at the same time.

“Me too, I know what you mean
,
”
Jayce said aloud
as he started
the car.
He shot me
a wink followed by
a flash of
his
perfect
grin
.

Uncle Dane remained positioned in the same prot
ective stance in the front door
way. I waved
to
him as Jayce started pulling the car
away. Uncle Dane waved back and I watched
as he
hesitantly
closed
the door.

I felt terrible
that he worried so much about me. I felt safe around Jayce and I wanted more than anything for Uncle Dane to accept him.

Jayce and I spent the entire day driving around.
I
’d
expected to meet up with the others, but Jayce said he wanted me
all
to himself for the day.
He
showed me around the island
, taking
me to
the top of some
various hills so we could admire the views. Then he proceeded to show me around a couple of oth
er beaches. None of them compared to Mystic Beach, i
t wa
s by far the most beautiful one
.

We pulled into a tiny parking lot and
entered
a
quaint
restaurant for
a late lunch
.
The seafood restaurant
had colorful fish
painted over most of the walls with p
aintings
of mermaids and waterfalls
taking
over the
rest of the wall space
.

Jayce and I took a seat in a
booth
over
by the window. A lone candle burned in the cent
e
r of our table, which was accompanied by a single red rose. We admired the spectacular view
overlooking the water. The dark-
hai
red slender waiter came over to take
down our drink order
and
we both ordered the fish and chips off the menu board.

As J
ayce and I sat at our ta
ble conversing, t
he candle burning
in the middle of our table kept gr
abbing
my attention. It would’ve been so much
more romantic
if it
were
dark out
side
. Jayce
leaned
over
and w
ith
a
smooth motion
picked
the rose
out of the vase
,
tucking it safely behind my ear.
“Perfect!” he said.
Then
he
took
my hand and told
me
more about the island and
all its secrets. I was
completely me
sme
rized, hanging
off
his every word
.